Heavily armed: These members of the State Police special operations team are geared up with body armor and assault weapons

This story has been capturing my attention, and much of the nations, all week since a deranged ‘crazy man’ boarded a school bus on Tuesday afternoon in Midland City, AL. He then shot and killed the bus driver after he tried to stop the man from taking two children hostage. The man demanded two kids at first, a six and eight year old. Why he requested those age groups and if he asked for a boy and girl is not known. He was able to take the little boy, Ethan, after he fainted and couldn’t flee like the other children did while the ‘crazy man’ and the bus driver scuffled.

A candlelight vigil honors the memory of bus driver Charles Poland and pleads for the release of a five-year-old boy held hostage in a bunker by Poland’s alleged killer

The poor little boy, Ethan, is still being held by this ‘crazy man’. I sure pray he is still safe and unharmed. Reports are that he’s been crying for his parents since he was abducted three days ago by the nutcase who shot and killed the bus driver.

He has a history of violent behavior, paranoia and has threatened to shoot neighbors before just for going near his property or supposedly damaging a speed bump. We don’t know why he is doing what he’s doing other than him being a paranoid nutcase. He was expected to go to court on Wednesday because he was charged with ‘menancing’ neighbors when he threatened to shoot them….sadly in AL this was considered a misdemeanor and he was released on bail.

Someone like that should have raised a red flag and he should have been sent for a mental evaluation and kept in jail. Anytime someone threatens others with death or harm, especially with a weapon, they are no longer safe for society and should be taken seriously as a danger to the public!! This is one example of the failure of our legal system and the need to recognize those with mental illness, especially when they show signs of violent behavior, which he has!! He killed another neighbors dog before with a lead pipe! As we know, many serial killers and sociopaths start out killing animals before they move on to killing people. They become desensitized and devalue human life as they become empowered by the killing.

May God bless and protect little Ethan and comfort him as he longs for his family. I pray he is released today and not a minute more goes by! My youngest son is his age and I can’t imagine what he must be going through and how his parents are feeling. It just breaks my heart each day this hostage situation goes on. Why can’t these nuts just leave innocent people alone!!?? Why can’t they take their own lives or go into a bunker or whatever on their own rather than going on shooting sprees and taking anyone hostage!!?? It’s so frustrating and upsetting, I imagine the police and everyone involved feel helpless trying to negotiate with a mentally unstable person.

I really hope he lets this little boy go before he causes more emotional harm and God forbid physical harm. It is reported that Ethan and has been crying for days for his family, but was given needed medicine and coloring books…I pray the nutcase is giving him the proper dosage of medicine and treating the little boy with kindness rather than anger and violence. I hope he is being fed and able to use a restroom as well. We don’t know anything about the accommodations other than he claims to have a television in the bunker and the suspect, Jimmy Lee Dykes, is getting sleep down there. I imagine little Ethan gets some sleep as well, but he is probably not sleeping well as he misses his family and fears for his life. How scary….how heart breaking….God please save this little boy!!

More than three days after he allegedly shot dead a school bus driver, grabbed a 5-year-old child and slipped into an underground bunker in the rural U.S.,Jimmy Lee Dykes was showing no signs Friday of turning himself over to police.

Midland City Mayor Virgil Skipper said he has visited the boy’s parents.

“He’s crying for his parents,” Skipper said. “They are holding up good. They are praying and asking all of us to pray with them.”

Lawmaker Steve Clouse said the boy’s mother told him her child has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism-like disorder, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Police have been delivering medication to him through the pipe, he said.

James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, said the captor has been sleeping and told negotiators that he has spent long periods in the shelter before.

Arrington confirmed that Dykes held anti-government views, as described by multiple neighbors: “He’s against the government — starting with Obama on down.”

“He doesn’t like law enforcement or the government telling him what to do,” the police chief said. “He’s just a loner.”

No motive has been discussed by investigators, but the police chief said the FBI had evidence suggesting it could be considered a hate crime. Federal authorities have not released any details about the standoff or the investigation.

The shelter is about four feet underground, with about six-by-eight feet of floor space

Police say the kindergartener, whose mother calls him ‘Love Bug,’ is unhurt and is watching TV in the bunker, which has electricity.

He asked for crayons and a coloring book, which Dykes allowed police to pass to him through a four-foot-wide, 60-feet-long PVC pipe that runs into the bunker.